FPHS Students Host FPTV
By Bonita Wilborn
FPHS Students Host FPTV as part of their grade in the Video Production class, taught by the instructor, Steve Black.
When asked about the connection between FPTV and the Mountain Valley News (MVN) Steve Black said, “I became acquainted with Monk through Nathaniel Ledbetter [former owner of MVN]. Nathaniel and I had done a few production things together during his campaign, so a sponsorship developed from that.”
Steve Black, a 1981 graduate of Collinsville High School, had a retail business in Summerville, Georgia. As a part of that business, he became interested in video production. That part of the business grew by leaps and bounds, so in 2002 Steve opened a production company out of the garage at his home in Fort Payne. Within two and half to three years, he was buying so much air time through Charter that it was more cost-effective just to lease a channel. So for the next eight years, he produced local sports, things for NFL Lona from Atlanta, as well as Grambling University, and a congressman in Washington D.C.
Through all that, Steve fostered a very good relationship with Fort Payne High School. So finally, Mr. Cunningham, Superintendent of the Fort Payne City School System, said, “I want you to teach Video Production at our school.” In five years the Video Production class has grown from a handful of students to this year’s total of approximately 80 students.
“During a Friday night football game, I’ll have 20-30 students around campus, working different jobs for the production of that game,” Black explained. “We air three different shows that are produced here and also air a lot of other stuff too. We have a channel with Farmers, and the school system bought the equipment we needed to be able to tie into their system so that we could air 24/7. We do that on channel 5. Every week we produce at least one live sporting event at the high school; we also produce the Twin City Auto Scoreboard Show, which is different than most scoreboard shows. Our scoreboard show is during the games, so when the games are over our scoreboard show is over. We track scores from all over the area. We also produce the Twin City Auto Coaches Show. I have students that produce all of that, and I’m the facilitator. I train everyone to use cameras, use the editing program, to operate audio and lighting rigs, as well as conducting interviews. Then I take one of the advanced students and train them to direct the productions, and they run their crew. I’m there to help if they have a problem with a camera or a glitch there. I also have students that I carry with me when I’m fixing those problems to train them on how to troubleshoot. I train the students in every aspect of video production.”
When the students finish the four-semester Video Production course, they are prepared well enough that they can start their own Video Production business. Black explained that he had had several students that have done that.
Mr. Black said of the students he brought with him to the MVN on the day of their visit: “Jesse Hendricks is the director of our scoreboard show. Avery is a first-semester student. He’s a great kid. Avery is the type of student that picks up on things very well. He’s very intelligent, polite, and knows how to speak to people. I can already trust his knowledge to take him to meetings with clients. Linda Velasquez is currently in her third semester. She is learning how to create invoices and reconcile accounts. Madison Goodwin, (not present on the day of their visit to MVN) I can count on for just about anything. She does the sideline shots during the ballgames, and she goes out when we’re meeting with clients.”
After school activities are a large part of the students’ Video Production grade, and course requirements are that each student must attend and work at least six after school activities in a semester. They are graded on how they perform in the field. It’s a major part of the class. “I had one student last year that attended 48 after school activities,” Mr. Black recalled. “He was at almost every activity I was. He knew as much about setting up the equipment as I did. I could turn to him for anything. We have about 35 state-level competitions that we’ve placed in during the past five years.”
According to the Alabama Broadcasting Association, Mr. Black’s Video Production Class is the only one in the nation that has a 24/7 TV channel.
To view FPTV live broadcast, log onto the school’s website at https://www.fpcsk12.com/. When the site comes up, look at the bottom right of the screen, and you should see FPTV, click on that icon, and when the screen changes you can find the list of live stream items on the left side of the screen.